Pastor's Blog

Our Lenten sermon series is called "The God We Can Know" and in it we will look at the "I am..." sayings from the Gospel of John. I'm hoping that during this sermon series you'll be willing to do a little bit of homework by reading the upcoming Sunday's scripture in advance.

This Sunday the "I am" saying is "I am the Bread of Life" and it's located in what scholars call "The Bread of Life Discourse" in John 6: 22-59. "Discourse" is just a fancy word for conversation, and these 37 verses show us the dialogue between Jesus and the people about what Jesus means when he tells him that he is the bread of life.

It's a really interesting conversation, and it ends with the people grumbling against Jesus (kind of like the people grumbled against Moses when they were traveling through the wilderness) because he says that he is the bread that came down from heaven and yet they know that he is the son of Mary and Joseph. They're aggravated because they don't understand. For me, that's a familiar feeling...being aggravated because I don't understand everything I think I ought to understand.

But for our purposes, this is what seems to be most important...Jesus tells us that he is the bread of life, and if we partake of him we will not die...we will know life in all of its abundance.

How often do we try to fill ourselves--literally and figuratively--with things that just leave us wanting more. There's a difference between feeling full and feeling satisfied. Many times we settle for feeling full when what Jesus promises is that we can be satisfied.

I invite you to read the Bread of LIfe Discourse this week (John 6: 22-59) and wrestle with it a little bit. Make notes in the margin of your bible where you have questions, and read the notes from your study bible. Let the scripture overwhelm you a little bit. At the same time, don't be worried if it doesn't make complete sense. Just enjoy the questions and challenges that it raises.

And don't forget to come to the Ash Wednesday service! 7:00am for silent meditation and/or 6:30pm for a full service with the Sacrament of Holy Communion.